Way back in time, there were the Memento Mori guys, with their trademark skull-on-a-stick and socko refrain "Remember, you will die." They followed kings and emperors around, supposedly keeping them humble and reminded of their place in the universe.
They were a high-status item, so much so that the sort-of-royal sorts began to adopt their own MM guys, and even some upstart tradesmen. It was one of these tradesmen who, after a few days of being reminded, declared (in his own idiom) that these guys were a real downer.
His innovation was to get a Memento Mori guy with some entertainment value. First, he selected a young man who displayed creativity and ingenuity in how he flipped and juggled the little skull when he wasn't doing anything else.
One day, the young MMer cracked a joke about a business associate who had just left the room. The reaction from his boss was wholeheartedly positive, and Shecky (the lad's true name is lost to history, but this is the agreed-upon reference name) expanded.
Shecky made fun of everyone but his master, and one day he ventured to make it unanimous. In a miasmic moment (they didn't know about viruses), the target of his jape roared with laughter, and the people went all in for jesters.
At the royal level, things were slower to change. For a generation or so, most rulers had one of each. After a while, pfennig-pinching advisors questioned feeding two mouths in very similar roles. Once it was suggested that the jester could handle both parts, it was over.
Today, I salute the anonymous Memento Mori guys, and point out that to a man, they all died. Now, that's commitment.
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